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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Boston, Massachusetts » Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #139919
Title: DIETARY SUPPLEMENTATION WITH FRUIT POLYPHENOLICS AMELIORATES AGE-RELATED DEFICITS IN BEHAVIOR AND NEURONAL MARKERS OF INFLAMMATION AND OXIDATIVE STRESS

Author
item GALLI, RACHEL - SIMMONS COLLEGE
item Shukitt-Hale, Barbara
item BIELINSKI, DONNA - TUFTS UNIV
item ANDRES-LACUEVA, C - TUFTS UNIV
item Joseph, James

Submitted to: Society for Neuroscience Abstracts and Proceedings
Publication Type: Other
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/16/2002
Publication Date: 11/2/2002
Citation: Galli, R.L., Shukitt Hale, B., Bielinski, D.F., Andres-Lacueva, C., Joseph, J.A. 2002. Dietary supplementation with fruit polyphenolics ameliorates age-related deficits in behavior and neuronal markers of inflammation and oxidative stress. Society for Neuroscience Abstracts and Proceedings.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Increasing dietary intake of fruits can retard and even reverse age-related declines in brain function and in cognitive and motor performance in our model. To date, blueberries (BB) have proved most effective at improving measures of motor performance and spatial learning and memory in old rats. The BB supplemented diet was also effective in ameliorating changes in a number of measures of neuronal functioning. Results indicate that the BB diet restored the ability of old rat hippocampal cells to respond to an acute in vitro LPS challenge with a neuroprotective overproduction of HSP 70. In an effort to further characterize the bioactive properties of fruits rich in color and correspondingly high in anthocyanins and other polyphenolics we assessed four fruits. Nineteen month old Fisher 344 rats were fed a diet supplemented with 2% fruit extract for 10 weeks. Results from groups fed either a BB, black currant, boysenberry, or cranberry (CB) diet were compared to young and old rats on the control diet. Preliminary analyses indicate that both BB and CB diets were effective in ameliorating deficits in motor performance and hippocampal HSP 70 neuroprotection. All of the diets were equally effective in Morris water maze performance. Efficacy at reversing neuronal and behavioral deficits will be discussed in the context of the relative polyphenolic composition of the four fruits.